What
Were They Thinking?Really Bad Ideas Throughout History
by Bruce Felton

Why
would a Boston shoplifter hide stolen
lobsters in
his underwear? What would possess a California physician to give a
cadaver’s severed hand as a romantic gift? What mental
misfire
led an Atlanta Braves pitcher to iron his shirt—while he was
wearing it? Renowned bad idea connoisseur Bruce Felton examines these
unanswerable questions and many others in What Were
They Thinking?,
revised for this edition to include recently unearthed harebrained
schemes, useless products, and misguided obsessions. You’ll
learn
the stories behind:

> The World
War II plot to attack
Buckingham Palace with exploding ­chocolate bars.

> The zoo that
encouraged
visitors to shoot the animals (and even supplied rifles for an extra
charge).

>
The travelers’
phrase book that
translates “The cockroaches have eaten my shirt,”
“Is
there a taboo on your house?” and “Where can I
defecate?”

> The British plan to tear down the Taj Mahal and
sell the pieces to interior decorators.

> The Elvis Vegiform, a plastic mold that turns
any vegetable into a bust of the King.

What Were They
Thinking?Really Bad Ideas Throughout
History
by
Bruce FeltonThe Lyons Press, 2007.Order
a copy